


Calm before the storm

by Lysambre



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-12
Updated: 2015-01-12
Packaged: 2018-03-07 07:35:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3166739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lysambre/pseuds/Lysambre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Ichiraku, steam train extraordinaire, ends up in an electrical storm. Iruka, the owner and driver of the train is just at the start of this particular journey.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Calm before the storm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pentapus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pentapus/gifts).



> Huge thanks are due, first to my dear friend Fraggle, for helping me through the bad times.   
> And second, to Marie, who betaed this for me, you were kind and encouraging despite my utter lack of confidence.

On the second day of its two week journey, the _Ichiraku_ had to make an emergency stop. It had just passed the borders of the Land of Lightning, on its way to Kumogakure, when Iruka Umino, the train driver, received word from one his crew that they were heading straight toward what appeared to be a huge electrical storm. Iruka lifted his head from the journal he had been writing to look through the window.

While storms were a regular part of the weather of this Land, Ino’s voice was telling a different story about this one when she contacted Iruka through the radio.

"Iruka, we need to stop the train as fast as possible. I’m sensing a huge storm right on our path and it doesn’t feel right at all".

"How big are we talking, Ino?" asked Iruka. “Big enough to put us in danger or just big enough to scare the passengers? You know that they secretly love it when they get a little scared on the way, gives them something to talk about once they’re home."

Iruka could hear the laughs of most of the crew through the radio, including Ino’s. The kids knew first hand that on the long trip, there was nothing better than a little weather action to distract the passengers.

"I wish it was the entertaining kind, but what I’m feeling is not only huge, but dangerous and very unusual. Nothing like the lightning storms we usually cross around here."

Ino was rarely wrong when it came to these things and Iruka heard the warning in her voice. He started the maneuvers to stop the train with an announcement to all crew aboard.

"Attention, all crew: Prepare for emergency stop. Ino has warned us of some very bad weather ahead and we’re not going to take the risk of going through. Passengers crew, please make the announcement to the travelers in your wagon. Mechanics, be ready for the usual checkups. Restaurant car, prepare for the rush. Shikamaru, you tell me when you’re ready for me to start!"

Iruka had complete trust in his team, they knew what to do. As much as they still liked to behave like a bunch of kids, when it came to their job on the train, nobody could find a fault in their dedication.

Shikamaru was probably the smartest of the bunch, and while he lacked enthusiasm in a way Iruka had never seen before, he was also his trusted second in command when it came to the train. His quick thinking and ability to adapt were just what was needed to lead the boiler room. Without Shikamaru, the trip would still probably take a month, as it did before Iruka had started gathering this patchwork team of errant children. As it was, the train now did the trip in half that time and had thus become the fastest steam train of the Lands.

The whistle blew for a short time and Shikamaru’s bored voice resonated in the radio.

"Everything is ready for braking. Let’s see if you can make it as smooth as possible," he added in a slightly mocking voice.

"I’ll show you smooth, you brat!" answered Iruka

Both hands on the lever, Iruka started to apply the brakes softly, the speed of the train going down nicely without jerking. As they almost came to a stop he released the brakes at the same time as Shikamaru evacuated the left over steam, letting the train glide for a few more meters before stopping on its own.

"Was that smooth enough for you, genius?"

Iruka could hear the laughs and cheering from the rest of the crew on the radio. Shikamaru didn’t answer with more than a snicker. Iruka was smiling broadly. These kids were all brats with bad tempers at times, but they were his crew and his family. He couldn’t be more proud of them all.

The train had stopped and the mechanics were now the ones taking the relay, making sure everything was good and ready for the train to leave again. Iruka opened a private radio channel.

"Ino, if you are not too busy in at the bar, come over the locomotive, please.. We need to see if that electrical storm is going to hit us or not."

"I’ll be here in five. Chouji doesn’t need much help right now; it’s going to take a little while before the passengers start to get impatient enough to invade the restaurant wagon."

Iruka prepared some tea while he was waiting for her, pouring two cups just as the young woman arrived in the engine room. She was tall for her age, and her long blond hair were tied up in her usual ponytail.

"Thanks for the tea. We all think it’s the best in the train," Ino said with a twinkle in her eyes.

Iruka flicked his fingers, throwing a couple of cold drops at her, which she evaded with a laugh. Tea with Iruka used to be the “punishment" for too much bad behavior, when they were all younger. As a punishment, it did very little to scare anyone, but they all had fond memories of spending some quiet – well, as quiet as a steam locomotive ever gets – time with Iruka just there, driving the train. Nowadays, being invited for tea was like visiting their favorite uncle.

"So, tell me about that storm, Ino."

The young woman sipped on her tea while looking through the glass window facing the right side of the train.

"I still feel that it’s a much more dangerous storm than what we’re used to, but somehow it doesn’t seem to be moving at all. I don’t know what to think of it, to be honest with you. There is something about it that’s too unusual."

"Well, if it’s not moving, at least it’s not going to become dangerous for us," Iruka said. “We’ll wait for a little while and if it still doesn’t move, or if it quiets down, then we’ll continue our journey, hopefully without any other hitch on the way."

Iruka stood up and put a hand on Ino’s shoulder.

"Don’t worry about it too much, Ino. I’d rather we stopped and nothing happened than have you keep what you sense to yourself and let us fall into a huge storm. Alright?"

Ino nodded, her eyes still on the light show she could see through the window. Shaking her head, she finished her tea and gave the cup back to Iruka.

"I’m going to go back to the restaurant wagon, people must have started gathering there for snacks or meals and Chouji will need me sooner than later."

She left in a flurry of blond hair, leaving behind the unique flower smell that always surrounded her. Iruka looked through the window that Ino’s gaze had been fixed upon. He thought that she had been right. This wasn’t a normal storm, It looked completely wrong. The color and the shape of the bolts was like nothing Iruka had ever seen before,it wasn’t even a proper lightning storm either. Something was up, and he didn’t like it at all.

 

*********

 

Kakashi Hatake, Maito Gai and Rock Lee had been waiting for three days. Gai had supposedly checked the timetables for the train, but Kakashi now wondered if he hadn’t been a little too busy with the ladies to do this one job properly.

It should have been just a matter of hours. What they had instead was a third day of waiting, another freezing night out there and not much food left to account for. The plan had not exactly been “last minute, but it was becoming clearer with every hour that they had not thought it through as much as they believed.

Lee was preparing the last of the food they had brought with them and their water was running short. If the train didn’t come that day, they would have no choice but to go back and make new plans. With their current luck, the train would pass just as they would be busy stocking up again, and they would have to wait another two or three weeks before seeing it again. For Kakashi, that was just unacceptable.

They ate in silence; or rather, Kakashi ate in silence while Gai composed a ridiculous ode to the bland food. Sometimes, Kakashi wondered how they had even become friends in the first place. Him, with his closed off approach and behavior, was the complete opposite of Gai’s incredible exuberance and outgoing nature.

They waited a little while longer, keeping busy with cleaning up their camp. They might as well since either way they would be gone before the night, by foot or by train.

Even Gai had stopped talking, and that alone told Kakashi that the wait had gone too long. His friend never stopped talking, especially not when he had such an audience as Rock Lee, his apprentice. Kakashi rose from his seat and turned toward Gai.

"I think we probably--" he started to say before Gai lifted a hand to silence him. He was concentrating on something, his eyes unmoving and fixed nowhere in particular. A big smile appeared on his face.

"My eternal rival, ready your power, I can hear the train coming!"

He pointed towards the south. Kakashi couldn’t see anything, but he trusted Gai. And in any case, they were pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so nobody would have anything to say even if the train didn’t come.

Kakashi closed his eyes and took a deep breath, like Gai had taught him. He imagined two spheres of energy around his hand, waiting for the power in him to fill them out so they became tangible. When the crackling started he opened his eyes, inclining his head at Gai and Lee as an indication that they should stand behind him; probably the last safe place around once he began.

The crackling intensified as two irregular, crackling spheres appeared around his hands. Kakashi pointed them both toward the sky and let the lightning loose from his fingers. Bursts of energy came out, one after the other, illuminating the whole area. The dark clouds seemed to be absorbing the electricity he was sending up. They rumbled with it, as if they were trying to appease a monster. This was Kakashi’s symphony. Playing with the electricity, the clouds and the sky.

For a little while, lost in the high of playing, he forgot why he was there. All he could see, hear and feel was the electric power surging through him, from him and back to him. This was simultaneously the most fun and the most frightening thing he had ever done.

The main problem was that, as it was happening right at that moment, he had a tendency to lose himself in it. He forgot the time, he forgot where he was and right now, he had forgotten everything about a particular train.

Gai knew to not disturb him except in case of an emergency. Apparently he did consider this an emergency because Kakashi felt something strike the back of his head.

He only had time to think :"Why did that idiot throw a stone at me ?" before he blacked out.

 

*********

 

With no outward sign that it would have blown out any time soon, the storm had simply stopped. Just like that, as easy as blowing out a candle. Iruka had a look outside, but everything looked quiet and peaceful. It was quite eerie after such a huge electrical storm.

He was about to open the general radio channel to let his team know they would be leaving again soon, when Naruto’s excited voice resonated in his ear, rendering him half deaf.

"Iruka! Iruka! We’ve got two people running toward the train! They’re waving their arms at us and one of them is carrying another guy! Wait for them!"

Wait for them? Who the hell were they to be there in the middle of nowhere, almost at the border between the two lands? Iruka had half a mind to just move and leave them here. Shikamaru’s more reasonable tone was the one to make him reconsider.

"Whatever, we can take them on board, and throw them out at the next train station if they try to ride for free."

Iruka let out an nearly soundless sigh. He hated things that were out of the ordinary. At best they made him worry over nothing; at worst they were just the beginning of bad news. That storm could really have started after their passage! Right about now, he would have been having a nice meal with nothing else to do but enjoy the food. Curse the land of lightning and its unexpected weather!

"Fine," he said. “Let’s take them on board. If one of them is carrying another guy, he might be hurt. Sakura be ready for an arrival. Shino, I’ll leave it to you to make sure our unexpected guests are comfortable on board."

For all they knew, the poor buggers may have been surprised in the middle of the electrical storm that just happened and one of them may have been hit by lightning. It wasn’t unheard of, and if that was the case, they were lucky to have caught this train. Sakura was a very talented medic and Iruka knew anyone in her care would be in good hands.

A few minutes later, he received word that the three men had been taken aboard. One of them was unconscious and carried to the infirmary while the other two were led to the restaurant for a warm meal.

Iruka headed to the infirmary. Before they started the train again, they needed to know who these three guys were. That unconscious man could be a travelling companion to the other two, or he could be someone they had tried to rob… although, there would be little point in carrying someone you robbed aboard the same train as you. Still, he had three unregistered passengers, and Iruka would be damned if he continued on his way without at the least talking to them beforehand.

He arrived to the wagon just as Sakura was leaving it.

"Ah, Iruka, good thing you’re here. I need someone to stay with our new patient while I fetch Ino. She’s not answering her radio, they might be too busy in the restaurant, but I need her here."

Iruka looked at her in surprise. It was a rare thing for Sakura to admit she needed help in the infirmary. The young woman usually always prided herself on a job well done on her own.

"Is he in a very bad way then?" Iruka asked

"Well, physically, he’s not. Apart from a small bump on his head, I can’t find anything wrong with him, and I’ve healed all I could. But he still doesn’t wake up, and now I’m wondering if maybe there is something else. Ino’s the only one who can feel his mind. The body’s my limit! I’ll leave him in your hand, we’ll be back in just a minute."

Sakura left with an amusingly complicated hand salute, making Iruka smile despite the seriousness of the situation.

He slid the door open and closed it behind him after entering the room. The mystery passenger lay on the bed on the left side of the cabin. He had wild silver hair and the lower part of his face was covered with dark cloth.

Iruka stepped closer. He looked at the pale face; even with half of it hidden the stranger’s traits seemed quite harmonious. Although, Iruka wasn’t sure, but he thought he could see traces of a scar on the guy’s right cheekbone, hidden under the silver fringes of hair covering that side of his face.

Curiosity got the best of him and he reached to push the strands of hair away with a fingertip. He barely had time to see that the scar went up over to the eye before that eye opened and the stranger caught his wrist in a tight grip, preventing Iruka from unveiling any more of his face.

Caught in the act, Iruka could only stammer an apology.

"Oh, you’re awake. Sorry about that, didn’t want to intrude…"

Oh yes, go on Iruka, worst apology in the history of terrible apologies. Rolling his eyes at his own ineptitude when it came to normal interaction with strangers, Iruka tried to pull his wrist free of the man’s tight grip, only to be given a harsh shake.

The guy sat in bed, still holding onto Iruka’s wrist. Since that didn’t seem to be enough for him, his other hand grabbed Iruka by the collar, bringing their faces dangerously close.

"Who the hell are you? Where are Gai and Lee? Where is this? Who the hell are you?"

His voice was deep and cutting. It fit to the rest of him perfectly. It was also bad news for Iruka, because between what he could see of a very pretty face, the great voice and the extreme proximity alert, he was having a hard time concentrating on the actual words the man was saying.

The hand on his collar shook him out of his trance-like observation of the man’s features and he finally heard the repeated question.

"Who. The. Hell. Are. You?"

Iruka finally regained his senses. He pushed the other man away, breaking free of both his hands, and straightened up his uniform with a slightly trembling hand.

"I’m Iruka Umino. The owner and driver of this train. You’re in the infirmary and we have currently running behind schedule, since we lost time to rescue you!"

Now that proximity was not an issue any more, Iruka could feel his own anger growing. How dare that man treat him like that when he was the one being rescued. The utter gall! Iruka was on the brink of giving him an earful about the sheer idiocy of just being here in the middle of nowhere in an electrical storm.

That train of thought was derailed quickly when the man in front of him smiled at him from behind his mask. His fists unclenched, his shoulders relaxed; his whole face and attitude seemed to suddenly release all tension.

"Oh! We’re aboard the train? Now that’s good news! You should have told me sooner!"

The little… The tension may have gone out of this strange man, but it had been transferred to Iruka. How could someone he didn’t even know annoy him that much, Iruka wasn’t quite sure, but he was getting about ready to kick that guy of his train with a kick in the butt.

The stranger seemed to realise he was not gaining any favors with his savior and smiled again, a bit more apologetically

"Sorry about that, didn’t mean to yell at you. I’m not quite at my best when I just wake up. Forgive me, Umino san?"

What could Iruka say when faced with such large, pleading eyes? Nothing, that’s what! This guy was the worst. Ignoring the question altogether, Iruka asked:

"And pray tell, who is it that we’ve rescued? I’ve yet to learn who are my new three passengers and what they were doing out in the middle of nowhere, right in the middle of that electrical storm."

The man sat up a little higher in the bed and rested his hand behind his head, the perfect picture of smugness.

"Kakashi Hatake. Pleasure to meet you. My companions are Maito Gai and Rock Lee, and we’re here to steal your train!"

 

**Author's Note:**

> I had planned to write more, a lot more in fact, in this universe. But life happened.
> 
> I cannot make any promises, but I hope that at some point in the future I will be able to add to this story and make it all I had hoped it would be.


End file.
